Some seniors support cleansing of aid master list

LONGTIME senior residents of Cebu City supported Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s plan to review the master list of beneficiaries of the city’s cash aid and limit it to those registered in the city since 2008.

Esmeralda Alon, a 72-year-old resident of Barangay Labangon, Cebu City, told Cebu Daily News that she knew of seniors who receive financial aid from the city but were not registered voters since they live in nearby cities like Mandaue.

“Gusto ko ana arun mabal-an jud ba nga naa gyud gadawat nga dili taga diri. Kaila nga dli taga Cebu City mangadto sa City Hall mangayo og kwarta (I like the plan so it will be revealed that there are seniors getting their financial assistance but are not from Cebu City. I have so many acquaintances who are not from the city, who will go to City Hall to ask for their financial assistance),” she said.

She questioned why the previous administration easily gave financial assistance without checking on the status of the registered senior and doing second validation.

Alon is a native of Boljoon town and has been living in Cebu City since she was 15 years old. “Kana nga kwarta, para amo lang na diri nga mga lumad sa siyudad sa Sugbo (That money is only for us who are natives of Cebu City),” she said.

While confident that she will not be eliminated from the master list, Lucille Sosoco is concerned for other seniors who may lose their cash aid which they mostly spend on their maintenance medicines.

Sosoco, who was born and raised in Barangay Bacayan, has been receiving cash aid from city government since 2008.

“I don’t know the issue. I also don’t want to say something on the issue but I pity those who will be eliminated from the list. Especially some senior citizens are dependent on the financial assistance from the government,” she said.

Sought for comment, Domingo Chavez, Office of the Senior Citizens’ Affairs (OSCA) head, supported Osmeña’s plan to cleanse the seniors’ master list.

“In fact, if I were to decide, the grace period of the recipients since it was implemented, especially if you are really born and raised in Cebu City, should be limited. It is better to eliminate those who are not really from Cebu City, that’s the reason why the review should be pursued,” he said.

As of the present, there are exactly 67,300 beneficiaries of the cash aid program of the city government who will be subjected to review the moment the mayor instructs OSCA.

Each of the beneficiaries receives a yearly allowance of P12,000 and the city allocates P807,600,000 for it.

The city government has so far released half of the amount, P6,000. The remaining balance will be released on a staggered basis until December.